Julie Cart / CalMatters

As nights warm and droughts intensify, past models predicting fire behavior have become unreliable. So California is working with analysts and tapping into new technology to figure out how to attack wildfires. Gleaned from military satellites, drones and infrared mapping, the information is spat out in real time and triaged by a fire behavior analyst.

Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out a plan to speed construction of major public infrastructure and demanded quick votes from lawmakers. His Democratic allies put the proposals on ice.

After unanimously clearing the Senate, a bill expanding first responders’ access to workers’ comp for PTSD moves to the Assembly.

The governor’s building plan would adjust an environmental law known for stalling housing, dams and other projects. One environmental group said, “we have never been more disappointed in a California governor than we are with Gov. Newsom.”

In his initial climate budget proposal, the governor has cut about $561 million from local coastal resilience projects. Legislators, cities express concerns.

Facing a mental health crisis, Cal Fire crews sought less of a workload. But they have to wait two years under their new contract.

After a unanimous vote Thursday by the CPUC, homeowners get smaller payments from utilities, which solar companies say will slow construction of new rooftop solar projects. But new state incentives will be available.

Moderate weather and well-timed rainstorms in much of California combined to curb the acreage and structures burned.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s scaled-back plan eliminates consumer fees. The original was abandoned after criticism from the governor and solar advocates that it could hurt the transition to renewable energy.

Of all the ballot measures put before California voters this fall, Proposition 30 — which would raise taxes on the rich to support electric car deployment and combat wildfires — is perhaps the most confounding.

Newsom’s priorities — for the last three weeks of the session — include ramping up targets for greenhouse gas reductions and clean electricity, and creating safety zones around new oil wells.

About 10% of Cal Fire’s workforce quit the agency last year. “We are at critical mass, guaranteed,” one Cal Fire captain said. Workers’ comp cases for PTSD are routinely denied, and many crews are fatigued from working weeks at a time with no time off.